Incumbent Mitch Bolinsky, a Republican, running against Democrat Eva Zimmerman for state Representative in the106th District, which is wholly in Newtown, meet with The News-Times editorial board Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2016. less

Incumbent Mitch Bolinsky, a Republican, running against Democrat Eva Zimmerman for state Representative in the106th District, which is wholly in Newtown, meet with The News-Times editorial board Tuesday, Oct. ... more

Incumbent Mitch Bolinsky, right, a Republican, running against Democrat Eva Zimmerman for state Representative in the106th District, which is wholly in Newtown, meet with The News-Times editorial board Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2016. less

Incumbent Mitch Bolinsky, right, a Republican, running against Democrat Eva Zimmerman for state Representative in the106th District, which is wholly in Newtown, meet with The News-Times editorial board Tuesday, ... more

The two state house candidates vying to represent Newtown each challenged the other’s allegiance to the top of the party ticket on Tuesday, saying voters are concerned about the degraded state of the presidential race.

“What I am waiting for Donald Trump to do is put on his big boy pants and act like a human being,” said Bolinsky, 58, who would not say definitively on Tuesday whether he would vote for Trump. “I am hoping to be surprised, because right now I am disappointed.”

“I would just like to point out to you, Mitch, that you are an elected official, and taking a stand on something actually matters,” said Bermudez Zimmerman, a 29-year-old community organizer. “People look up to that and they expect that out of you, because if not, what is the point of being an elected official?”

“I am most likely going to vote for Hillary,” Bermudez Zimmerman said. “Because I think Trump is a bad decision for our country.”

“I think Hillary is a bad decision for our country,” Bolinsky said.

Their exchange followed an hour-long discussion about top issues in the 106th District - including the state budget crisis, the state education funding crisis, and the need in Newtown for enhanced mental health services.

Bolinsky said the way to lead the state out of a projected $1.2 billion budget deficit was to reduce spending, to streamline state government and to cut taxes to improve the state’s business climate. At the same time, he said he opposed the layoffs of state employees announced by Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy earlier this year, and he opposed cuts to mental health services proposed by Malloy.

Bermudez Zimmerman said she favored a new tax on hedge funds and a new tax on large corporations that employ low-wage workers. She also criticized Malloy’s layoffs and budget policies, saying they were not leading the state to prosperity.

Bolinsky criticized Bermudez Zimmerman for flip-flopping in her support of the governor.

“How do you distance yourself from Dan Malloy, because you have been a supporter of Dan Malloy in the past, and his policies have pretty much brought the state to its knees,” Bolinsky said.

“I distance myself because he basically slapped state employees in the face this past year - privatizing group homes, privatizing a lot of state jobs - and it’s scary,” she said. “I don’t agree with his policies or his politics right now, and it saddens me. It is very disappointing.”

Bolinsky himself admitted feeling similar disappointment when it came to supporting the top man in his own party, Trump.

Bolinsky was asked twice by the editorial board to clarify where he stood. Both times he declined.

“I don’t know what I am doing at this point - I am still evaluating it,” Bolinsky said of Trump. “Every time he opens his mouth, he pushes me further away, though.”